Music Education
Who hasn’t at least once been told something along these lines: slow practice – slow practice is king – slow is smooth, smooth is fast and other such platitudinous maxims? As a young guitarist (or any sort of musician), young in either experience or years or both, there comes a point
Music Education
Often, people are curious about all the vibrato they hear from opera singers. Compared to the way most pop singers use their voices, vibrato can seem like an effect, superimposed by the singer in an active way, to achieve that “opera singer sound”. In reality, vibrato is the result of
Features
On a hot afternoon on Good Friday in Goa, when the streets were deserted and the shops shuttered, I sat in what used to be an old mint and listened with rapt attention to Luis’ story. A story about how music can change lives. “I remember as a child, going
Interviews
When did you come up with the idea to tour India with the Australian World Orchestra in October 2015? It was Alexander Briger’s idea who first had a discussion about this with Maestro Zubin Mehta and Nick Deutsch, our Principal Oboe for the Australian World Orchestra. What were the
Music Education
Picture this: you’re walking down the street in London, with your frock coat swishing around you and your hat at an angle. (Of course you’re wearing a frock coat – it’s 1819) You’ve got to play for your supper at the Marlboroughs’ tonight, but that’s not
Music Education
The universal steps to learning a song, I know you’ve all got them down. You can read music, count rhythms, learn language, and tell stories. A lot of the music I work with involves a pianist and singer, and duetting is all about communication. In the process of “learning
Meet the Maestro
Nikhil Sardana: Could you share your earliest childhood memories related to music? A.R. Rahman: My father was an arranger for various composers and often acted as a versatile assistant to them. Back then, most composers were Carnatic musicians who created the tunes, and my father would arrange the music.
Music Education
Especially because I like knowing what I’m playing, but also because I’m a fan of history in general, I wish I knew more about early 20th Century Latin America – and in particular, that I knew more about the first half of Augustin Barrios Mangore’s life. It would
Features
A Conductor should be a many faceted person with a wide artistic and human hinterland. Waving arms around is merely the visible thing people see, and even there, there are no real rules, only some basics. Impeccable technique doesn’t necessarily produce great performances, and less conventional methods can be
Music Education
Most of my childhood was spent hearing about my dad’s travels in the “BIMARU” states in India (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh considered to be the most backward), and my eldest brother’s classical piano playing (today he is a pianist and a music therapist, and my
Music Education
A project that started with me trying to get an amateur college choir a chance to perform with an orchestra turned into a life changing experience. In 2010, while still in college, I set up the Xavier College Chorus to provide a platform for amateur singers. My mission of getting
Music Education
My fascination for the piano came very early and way before my foray into Indian Classical music. In the initial years while I played both Western Classical and Indian film music on the piano, it was the raga based film music that first pulled me towards Hindustani Classical. I also
